In the Cards
by Ocianne
Summary: Heiji, Kazuha, and a trip to Tropical Land, after Heiji learns why you should never, never, play cards against Ran. HeijiKazuha oneshot, with an SR cameo.


For a ficswap on the Manycasesonetruth LJ. First try writing Heiji and Kazuha, and assumes Shinichi's gone back to normal. Tiny spoiler for Movie 7, if you squint.

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_In the Cards_

– – – – –

Tropical Land! Home of volcanoes, waterfalls, roller coasters, and the occasional murder. Today the bright morning sun illuminated hundreds of eager faces, all excited for a full day of junk food, nauseating rides, and general good-natured fun.

Well, almost all.

"Kazuha?" Heiji yawned, not bothering to cover his mouth, and pulled his baseball cap lower against the sun's too-bright rays. _Getting up before 10 AM on a weekend should be forbidden. _He was seriously considering calling his father and asking if it were possible to make a law declaring mornings illegal.

"Hm?" Kazuha turned her head a fraction, focused on buying tickets from the vendor — with his wallet, dammit. She'd snagged his wallet while he'd been half asleep.

"Remind me again why we're here?" There had been a reason, but he'd done his best to forget it, he couldn't recall why…

"Because I've never been here, and you and Shinichi had to save your manly pride, remember?"

Oh.

_**Oh.**_

That was very good reason.

_They had been playing teams, he and Shinichi against Kazuha and Ran._

_The game night at the Mouri's went well until the girls suggested cards. He should have known better than to play cards against Ran; Shinichi for sure should have put an end to the idea. But Ran and Kazuha appealed to the boys' pride, and against their better judgment the two young men found themselves playing strip poker against their semi-girlfriends._

_He and Shinichi had been slaughtered._

_Only when both boys owed their last article of clothing did the girls take pity on them, and offer an alternative payment: All day trips to Tropical Land._

_When faced with loss of dignity or loss of money, dignity took priority._

Shinichi had already abandoned him, actually looking forward to the day — even after promising Ran that he would under no circumstances investigate _anything_. So that left him with Kazuha, dragging him along in a vice-like grip as she took in the atmosphere.

"Hurry up, Heiji! I want to hit the boat-tour ride that Ran told me about before the line gets too long."

"All right, all right! It's your call."

There was one upside, he mused, to this particular trip, even if his usual position as leader had been usurped by his little follower. Kazuha was smiling. Not angry with him, sad, disappointed, scared, or worst, looking at him with that trying-to-hide-any-of-the-above half smile. Really smiling.

Said thought was the only thing that kept him sane through twenty repeats of the rollercoaster with the twisting loops.

– – – – –

Kazuha grinned into her binoculars and waved Heiji over to her part of the observation area. "Come look, quick!"

Curious, he peered through the lenses, and then burst out laughing. "Way to go, Kudo!"

Kazuha giggled, happy for Ran. There was going to be a lot of girl talk going on tonight, she was sure. It would be fun, even if she was probably going to do more listening than talking, again.

Suddenly, Heiji glanced at his watch and panicked. "Ack! We're gonna be late! Come on, 'Zuha!"

"Huh?" Startled, Kazuha let Heiji lead the way in a mad dash through the park. They skidded to a halt in the center of a tiled plaza, panting slightly.

"Heiji, what's going on?"

"Wait 3…2…1…"

Water rose and danced around them, casting a hundred glittering rainbows in the light of the afternoon sun. Kazuha watched in awe, entranced by the intricate display of color and light.

"Kudo told me about it when we ate lunch," Heiji admitted as the performance died away. "I thought you'd like it too."

He was watching her with that goofy grin of his, the one that let him get away with everything and always made her smile back. He might be an idiot, a dork, and completely clueless, but sometimes he was incredibly sweet. And she'd caught him smiling at her when he thought she wasn't looking, lately, ever since that business with the Buddha riddle.

She smiled at him. "Thanks. It was beautiful."

"Yeah," he agreed lazily, but Kazuha's thoughts had moved on and focused on the cotton candy stand across the plaza. Heading over that way, she called for him to hurry up, already getting caught back up in the busy excitement of the park. She missed the way his eyes followed her, and how the grin softened fondly.

"Beautiful."

Fin.

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End file.
